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“We will,” declared Jolene. “Those bastards attacked both Raini and Khloë. They dragged us into this, and they’ll damn well face the consequences.”
Raini studied Maddox’s face. Nothing there gave away whether he did or didn’t believe that Khloë helped her fight the halo-bearers earlier. He had a tip-top bullshit meter, but both Jolene and Khloë were tip-top bullshitters, so there was no knowing what was going through his head.
“It’s not necessary for you to involve yourselves,” Maddox told them.
Lachlan frowned. “Of course it isn’t. But we still will. In the name of the sanctity of retaliation—”
“Oh, God,” Raini groaned.
“—we will ensure those bastards pay for bringing this fight to my daughter’s doorstep.”
Bram sidled over to his brother and gave him a supportive back-slap. “She’s okay, Lachlan.”
“I know, I know. But how can I not want to scorch the fucking Earth when they went after one of my girls, Bram?” Lachlan looked at Maddox. “Usually, I’m a pretty laidback man—”
“Really?” Raini cut in. “Seriously? You’re gonna go there again?”
“I don’t know why you insist on arguing that point,” Lachlan said to her.
“You know what the definition of ‘laidback’ is, right?”
“Yes. Me.”
Evangeline smiled at her. “You walked into that one, sweetheart.” Her smile dimmed as she slid her gaze to Maddox. “Do you think more angels will be sent after your lair?”
“Yes, which is why I’ll be increasing the security around Raini,” said Maddox.
“What security?” Demi snarked, a tremor in her voice that said she wasn’t quite as confident challenging Maddox as she’d like others to think. “You had one woman watching my sister’s home tonight. One. And hey, I get why. There’s no sense in wasting resources guarding someone you don’t give two fucks about. But why bother with the pretense? Why not just admit that you don’t want to be in Raini’s life and then walk on right out of it? Because if you had, those angels would never have come for her.”
“Demi,” Jolene drawled.
“You know I’m right,” Demi said to the Prime. “They only went after Raini because he gave them the mistaken impression that he cared what happened to her.”
“It isn’t an impression, it’s a fact,” countered Maddox, a hint of frost in his voice. “And the one woman you mentioned is my sentinel. She killed seven halo-bearers single-handedly. Almost died in her attempts to keep Raini safe. She’d do it again.”
Demi’s eyelids flickered, and she squirmed under the weight of that vacant stare. “Raini could have died, too,” she said, her voice quieter, much shakier. “It would have been your fault. If it really is a ‘fact’ that you care, walk away now before you bring any more danger to her life.” With that, Demi stormed out of the house, slamming the front door behind her.
Evangeline sighed. “She’s just shaken from what happened tonight. She doesn’t want to lose her sister.”
“She won’t,” said Maddox. “The angels won’t get near Raini again. Which brings me neatly to what I was about to say before.” He turned to Raini. “I want to move you to a safer location until all this is over.”
“Actually, we’ve been talking about that,” said Raini. On the one hand, she didn’t want to be chased out of her home. On the other hand, she didn’t want any of her lair members being collateral damage if the halo-bearers returned for her. “When Khloë was dealing with the Enoch business, she moved to the Underground for a while. Harper and Knox have a penthouse suite right across the road from Urban Ink; they said they’ll let me use it. It has excellent preternatural security—no halo-bearers could angel-port into there.”
Maddox’s demon balked at the thought of Raini relocating to the Underground. It wanted her close; wanted her where it could see her. So did Maddox, which was why he was sorely tempted to have her temporarily stay with him at the monastery. But she’d never go for it—like him, she had her secrets; she wouldn’t want Maddox getting close enough to sense what they were. That worked both ways, because Euan was right; she’d look at Maddox with disgust if she ever discovered the truth.
Maddox cut his gaze to Knox and Harper. “I will only be able to teleport to her at the penthouse suite if you both agree to allow me entrance.” Their blessing alone would be enough for the shield to permit him to pass. He could probably circumvent their preternatural security measures, but it was better that the pair wasn’t aware of that.
“We’ll allow it,” said Knox. “We want Raini safe.”
“It might be better if you two have your monthly meetings at the penthouse until all this blows over,” Harper told Maddox. “I think even you’d agree that your club isn’t a safe place for Raini right now.”
On the contrary … “It’s one of the safest places she could be.” No angel could get to her there, because it had the same magickal wards as the monastery.
